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Kilwa Kisiwani World Heritage Site SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS: KILWA KISIWANI WORLD HERITAGE SITE Development Bank of Southern Africa and African World Heritage Fund February 2009 Source: Author’s photograph, January 2009 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Kilwa Kisiwani is a remarkable cultural World Heritage Site (WHS) off the South- East coast of Tanzania. The development of the site has been supported in recent years by the upgrading of transport infrastructure to the district of Kilwa, and rehabilitation and interpretation work at the sites of Kilwa Kisiwani and Songa Mnara. Commitment to development from both government and donors now places Kilwa Kisiwani and the Kilwa District in a favourable position to benefit from tourism. With the completion of the tarred road connecting Kilwa to Dar es Salaam likely in the short-term, tourism to the area will undoubtedly grow. Although the increases in tourism are not going to be immediately dramatic, the medium term could see Kilwa included in a growing ‘Southern Circuit’ of tourism destinations in Tanzania. In order to ensure that the tourism development of the World Heritage Site and the district occurs in a manner that creates an excellent visitor experience, while benefitting local communities, both on the island and mainland, a deliberate design and structuring of the tourism experience is necessary. This will lead to the economic value of the sites becoming evident and will instill a vested interest in protection of the sites amongst beneficiaries. It will also help establish Kilwa as a must-see destination. First and foremost, appropriate development of the site and the broader area requires coordination and organisation of the many stakeholders who already have been, and wish to be, part of the development effort in the area. Bringing a level of coordination to the existing efforts will immediately unlock benefits. In the context of this coordination, a clear overarching plan is needed. This plan should identify the roles for the various stakeholders including the national and district government, community groups both on Kilwa Kisiwani and the mainland, the tourism industry, ngos, and donor organisations. Many plans have been developed for Kilwa in the past, but few have been extensively implemented. An overall coordinating and organizing structure can assist with this much-needed implementation. Kilwa is in a fortunate situation. The destination and its stakeholders have the benefit of being able to plan for future tourism development to ensure that it occurs in a way that maintains the sense of place (including the cultural and environmental integrity of the sites and area), provides an excellent visitor experience, and benefits host populations. All stakeholders have a role to play in shaping the destination’s development. With coordination, commitment and a clear strategy translating into implementation, 2 Kilwa could become a good example to other World Heritage Sites and emerging tourism destinations of how to plan and develop responsible tourism. 3 CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS .................................... 5 1.1 Research Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 6 2. SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................................. 7 2.1 Site Description and Context ................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 Visiting the Island ...................................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 Institutional Arrangements and planning ....................................................................................... 11 2.4 The financing models and revenue streams .................................................................................. 19 2.5 The existing and potential visitor markets ..................................................................................... 20 2.6 Socio-economic and community impacts ........................................................................................ 21 2.7 Capacity constraints ................................................................................................................................. 22 2.8 The natural environment, and management thereof ................................................................. 22 2.9 The linkage between the cultural tourism attractions and broader destination development ....................................................................................................................................................... 22 3. RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................................................................................... 24 3.1 Coordination and communication ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Planning, information management, monitoring and evaluation ......................................... 26 3.3 Developing A Visitor-centric approach ............................................................................................ 27 3.4 Creating Local Benefits ........................................................................................................................... 29 3.5 Tourism Capacity Constraints .............................................................................................................. 31 3.6 Destination Effect ...................................................................................................................................... 32 4. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................................... 33 5. REFERENCES ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 4 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND TO THE SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS There are currently 114 sites in Africa inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List: 38 in North Africa and 76 in the Sub-Saharan region. These sites have been proclaimed ‘World Heritage’ because of their Outstanding Universal Value. But compared to other continents, Africa is still left behind regarding the number of its World Heritage sites (114 out of 878). Moreover, most of the sites inscribed in the Danger List because of their deteriorating conditions, are located in Africa. Therefore, in 2006, the African World Heritage Fund (AWHF) was established to assist African countries to increase the number of African sites inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to improve the management and conservation of African World Heritage sites especially those that have been put in the Danger List. Kilwa Kisiwani was identified as a possible pilot site in this regard. Located in South Eastern Tanzania, Kilwa Kisiwani is a cultural site that contains the ruins of an Arab sea trading port. Broad aims for AWHF involvement at Kilwa are: to identify mechanisms to address the site damage and deterioration to recommend the development of appropriate infrastructure at the site, and to investigate opportunities for local communities to benefit from the development of the area. The AWHF has partnered the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) in undertaking the situational analysis of Kilwa Kisiwani. DBSA is a development finance institution (DFI) that provides financial and non-financial support to projects in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. As a DFI, the DBSA is keen to ensure that its work creates social and economic infrastructure and addresses market and institutional failures. One of the components of the DBSA’s newly approved tourism investment strategy relates to the development of new destinations in SADC. These are to be developed around anchor projects and WHS’s are identified as potential anchor projects in this regard. In particular, DBSA wishes to understand how best to develop African WHS’s as tourism destinations in order to unlock the economic opportunities and benefits that tourism can bring to often (rural) areas. In this regard, the DBSA is concentrating in its first phase on cultural tourism sites. 5 1.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The situational analysis of Kilwa Kisiwani prioritised primary research through informal discussions with stakeholders. In addition, certain documents1 where available, were consulted to verify/ augment findings from discussions. An initial introductory meeting was held with the Acting Director of Antiquities and a tourism official from the Department. Thereafter a site visit was conducted over three days. It included: A visit to District Council and meeting with its officials; Meetings with World Wildlife Fund and Mpingo Conservation project; A visit to the Kilwa Kisiwani site, including a limited tour of the ruins, and a meeting with representatives of the local Ruins Committee; Meetings with local community groups, namely: Kilwa Cultural Center, Changamoto, Upendo, Mkuje, and the local training college, Folklore; A visit to one of the groups to see their batik products; Discussions with one lodge manager, and a brief inspection of two other lodges. Upon returning to Dar es Salaam, a broad stakeholder meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Antiquities
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